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Turkish Army Chief Says
Fighting Terrorism Needs International Cooperation
Turkish Chief of General Staff Yasar
Buyukanit said Monday that it was difficult for nation states to fight
against terrorist organizations on their own and without any
international cooperation.
"Therefore, as nation states, we have to think internationally and
take action regionally," Buyukanit said in a keynote speech
delivered at the two-day Global Terrorism and International Cooperation
Symposium held in the Turkish capital.
"When we unite the common stance and position that we will set by
international thinking with the effective measures we are taking in our
own responsibility areas, I believe we can make great progress in fight
against terrorism," he said.
When nation states lose their balancing effect, more cleavages occur in
social structure, he noted.
"New tensions and unstable regions -- caused by these cleavages --
help create suitable grounds in which global terrorist organizations
survive," he asserted.
"The biggest guarantee against this threat is the nation states
with their strong institutions and the cooperation organizations
established between these nation states," he said.
Buyukanit also said terrorist organizations see nation state as the
biggest threat against their survival."The aim of terrorist
organizations is to harm, shake and then destroy this structure,"
he said.
"Terrorism is not the real face of an incident, it is the cover
that hides it. What someone is trying to do cannot be understood unless
this cover is lifted," Buyukanit said.
According to Buyukanit, the impact of globalization on terrorism could
be handled as exploitation of new capabilities that were introduced by
terrorist organizations.
"One of the most important impacts of globalization is that it
brings forth some organizations that are capable of affecting the
policies and decisions of national states. Terrorist organizations are
trying to change government policies by sending messages to governments
and societies through violence," said Buyukanit.
According to Buyukanit, another thing that increases global terrorism is
the unbalanced rise in world population and related movements of
population.
Illegal human trafficking had become a source of finance for terrorist
organizations whereas immigrants faced integration and identity problems
in the cultures of countries they migrated, said the general.
Buyukanit said production and share of income were two other things that
had to be taken into consideration due to rise in population.
According to World Bank figures, 1.1 billion people in the world are
surviving under the level of absolute hunger, Buyukanit said.
"This situation is misused by terrorist organizations, and in one
sense it makes terrorism an area of employment," he added.
Turkey
has been fighting with the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), which
took up arms against
Turkey
in 1984 with the aim of creating an ethnic homeland in southeastern
Turkey
.
More than 30,000 people have been killed in the over-two-decade conflict
between the Turkish army and the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist
organization by
Turkey
and the
United States
.
2008-03-17 |
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